The present invention relates generally to improvements in fare collection systems and components thereof, and specifically to the provision of a more secure fare collection system which separately handles and counts paper including paper currency and paper transfers and tickets, and coins including coin currency and tokens.
In one form of standard fare collection system used heretofore a fare box was provided for each individual bus, the fare box counting and recording the coins as deposited, there being no facility for accepting paper of any type. At the end of a work shift, the bus would be taken to a central location where the contents of the fare box were removed with security precautions by pneumatic means to a central processing unit where the coins were simply separated from the air stream and dropped into a secure vault. An example of such a system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,203 granted Oct. 22, 1974 to Golland et al. The fare box of such a system is mechanically complicated and expensive to manufacture, whereby it is available only to major systems having at least 100 or more buses therein. The complicated fare box frequently jams and presents severe service problems during use. Although the pneumatic withdrawal of the contents of the fare box is supposedly under secure conditions, practice has shown that the measures taken are not sufficient absolutely to prevent unauthorized withdrawal of fares from the fare box. There is no secure method of handling the paper including paper currency and paper transfers and tickets. Passenger fare classification is also often not accurately recorded. The system further is not secure against forceable entry, and forceable entry may take place without any warning to management that such forceable entry has occurred.
Another collection system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,839 granted Sept. 8, 1964 to White. This system collects coins from stationary boxes in parking meters using a mobile pneumatic extractor with coin sorter and counter with secure storage vaults. Such systems provide only a single count of the coins and makes no provision for handling paper of any type. There furthermore are no security measures taken to prevent unauthorized use of the system and no security measures taken to alarm management when unauthorized entry is made to the individual parking meters.
Prior fare boxes are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 420,265 granted Jan. 28, 1890 to Bricker, U.S. Pat. No. 1,032,876 granted July 16, 1912 to Bucknam and U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,255 granted May 4, 1937 to Jones. None of these prior fare boxes provide the security of the fare box of the present invention, and none of these fare boxes are equipped to handle paper and to sort, measure and count the same.
Exemplars of coin sorting and counting devices utilized heretofore are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,095,981 granted May 5, 1914 to Farrell, U.S. Pat. No. 1,655,412 granted Jan. 10, 1928 to Donnellan and U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,002 granted July 2, 1942 to Fleming et al. None of these prior coin sorter-counters can rapidly sort and count the contents of a bus fare box in a few seconds so as to count the fare boxes one-by-one accurately and without jamming.